Virginia and Kevin Ruesterholz Pledge $1.3 Million to Stevens Institute of Technology for Modern Admissions Center

6/10/2013

Hoboken, N.J. – As Stevens Institute of Technology progresses toward the achievement of the objectives in its 2012-2022 strategic plan, The Future. Ours to Create., a $1.3 million gift from Virginia and Kevin Ruesterholz for a modern, state-of-the-art admissions center will directly support the university’s planned growth in the size and selectivity of the student population. The generous donation will enable Stevens to renovate the historic Colonial House campus building and transform it into the Ruesterholz Admissions Center, a welcoming and friendly space for visitors interested in learning more about the university.

“Virginia and Kevin stepped forward once again in a significant way to help Stevens jumpstart the important work to support our university’s planned expansion,” said Stevens President Nariman Farvardin. “It is a great pleasure to know that such enthusiasm exists around our future.”

“The Ruesterholz Admissions Center will provide a wonderful environment to welcome prospective students and their families to campus and have a tremendously positive impact on our admissions activities,” added Stevens Vice President for Enrollment Management and Student Affairs Marybeth Murphy. “I am grateful for the generosity of Virginia and Kevin and their commitment to their alma mater.”

Virginia Ruesterholz, a longtime executive at Verizon and a 1983 graduate of Stevens, became the first woman to ever hold the position of chairperson of the Stevens Board of Trustees in May 2013. A member of the board since 2007, her contributions to Stevens are vast – from serving as chair of the advisory board of the School of Systems & Enterprises to championing a K-12 engineering education initiative at Stevens supported by the Verizon Foundation. She is also widely renowned for her 30-year career at Verizon, where she retired in 2012 as executive vice president and president of Verizon Services Operations.

Kevin Ruesterholz, also a 1983 Stevens graduate, is an attorney at law and head of Ruesterholz Law LLC in Morristown, N.J. He has more than 25 years of corporate experience with AT&T and Lucent Technologies in international business development, contract negotiations, partnership development and business management. With Virginia, Kevin served as co-chair of the Edwin A. Stevens Society, the university’s leadership society for annual giving, and also established a scholarship fund for Stevens engineering management students.

With their gift, the Ruesterholz’s are helping the university make progress toward the ambitious goals of its strategic plan, which positions Stevens as a premier, student-centric, solution-focused, technological research university. One of the key priorities of the plan is to expand and diversify the student population while enhancing selectivity. By 2022, Stevens plans to strategically grow the undergraduate student population by 60 percent and its full-time graduate student population by 30 percent.

“As students, alumni and leaders at Stevens, we have been thrilled to witness firsthand the university’s incredible rise, and we are equally thrilled to contribute to its continued momentum,” said Virginia Ruesterholz. “We sincerely hope the new Ruesterholz Admissions Center is a valuable asset to university admissions and makes a positive impression on prospective students far into the future.”

About Stevens Institute of Technology

Stevens Institute of Technology, The Innovation University®, is a premier, private research university situated in Hoboken, N.J. overlooking the Manhattan skyline. Founded in 1870, technological innovation has been the hallmark and legacy of Stevens’ education and research programs for more than 140 years. Within the university’s three schools and one college, more than 6,100 undergraduate and graduate students collaborate with more than 350 faculty members in an interdisciplinary, student-centric, entrepreneurial environment to advance the frontiers of science and leverage technology to confront global challenges. Stevens is home to three national research centers of excellence, as well as joint research programs focused on critical industries such as healthcare, energy, finance, defense and STEM education. The university is the fastest-rising college in the U.S. News & World Report ranking of the best national universities, and it is consistently ranked among the nation’s elite for return on investment for students, career services programs, and mid-career salaries of alumni. Stevens is in the midst of a 10-year strategic plan, The Future. Ours to Create., designed to further extend the Stevens legacy to create a forward-looking and far-reaching institution with global impact.